Clean Heat Europe

❄️ EUROPE NEEDS CLEAN, AFFORDABLE COOLING ❄️   Europe faces yet another record-breaking summer heatwave. In fact, two weeks ago, Reuters reported that about 10 000 deaths could be attributed, just to the end-of-June heat spike. Later this week, we will also showcase how heat waves like this one, according to civil society research, also serves as a driver for dangerous smog.   In that vein, this week marks another temperature surge. This results in an immediate health emergency as Europeans scramble to cool their homes. It also showcases the importance of scaling affordable cooling, and building a heating and cooling system which adequately addresses the new reality: Europe now faces one energy demand spike to heat its buildings during the winter, and one energy demand spike to cool the very same homes every summer.   Fortunately, these solutions are already available for use. It’s a matter of deploying them across the continent. This week, we will explore how a number of options can help European households get through periods of hazardous heat:   🔄 Heat pumps can be installed to offer cooling as well as heating 🏙️Several EU cities are already tapping into the vast potential of district cooling networks to service large amounts of households ☀️Solar thermal collectors are also able to offer cooling, with only the help of one additional component   European legislators have committed to develop a Cooling and Heating Action Plan which is well-positioned to reply to this critical challenge. This requires tapping into all available cleantech solutions, on top of passive cooling whenever possible.

❤️🔥 Electrification Action Plan: a landmark for Europe's clean heat sector ❤️🔥 Today, the EU Commission published its Electrification Action Plan. It reaffirms Europe's direction of travel towards energy independence. Given that heat makes up half of Europe's final energy consumption, and that clean heat deployment could slash total EU gas imports by more than 10% in just five years, this Action Plan contains a number of important points for Europe's clean heat sector: ⚡ The Action Plan dedicates substantial focus to correcting Europe's electricity-to-gas price ratio. This is absolutely critical, as it ensures households save money on their energy bills by replacing their boiler with a heat pump. 💶 De-risking of investment into large-scale heating projects, as well as direct support from the EU City Facility to municipalities will both go a long way in accelerating the deployment of district heating systems, which are primarily delivered by local actors. ☀️ The extensive chapter on social leasing opens up for the mixing and matching of various combinations of cleantech solutions (such as solar thermal, renovations, PV and more), both in the social leasing schemes as such, and in complementary support measures. This highlights the importance of households being empowered to implement the solutions that they know will serve them best in combination. Europe is already home to a strong clean heat industrial base. We have the manufacturing capacity to meet a sharp increase in demand for our solutions. By tapping into this vast, homegrown potential, Europe can usher in an era of energy independence, with affordable clean heat available for homes all across the contintent. European Heat Pump Association Euroheat & Power Solar Heat Europe Mélanie Auvray Valérie Séjourné Carlos Xavier Emanuele Joel Boehme

Last week, we published "A Strait Answer", our latest report which showcases how Europe has the potential to reduce its remaining gas imports by an additional 10,3% by 2030. This projection is based on EU deployment targets for clean heat solutions. To achieve those, policymakers need to establish the correct market conditions for clean heat. To achieve this, the European Commission should: 🏛️ Ensure that Member States fully implement EU energy legislation, including ETS2, without delay 💶 Launch targeted energy taxation reform to slash the minimum taxation on electricity to encourage households and businesses to move away from fossil fuels 🤝 Promote coherent, visible, simple and stable national subsidy schemes for clean heat installations, with support for integration  between clean heat and fossil-free energy solutions, with hands-on support for applicants through the process 💪 Establish an ambitious post-2030 framework that accelerates clean heat deployment and provides clarity and visibility for investment into the clean heat transition 📋 Deliver a comprehensive Electrification Action Plan, combined with a dedicated initiative and measures to accelerate clean heat deployment in Europe

Last year, Europe imported a total of 314 bcm of gas. While this is the sum of both tanker and pipeline imports, based on the average capacity of a gas tanker, this is the equivalent of circa 3008 tankers. Already-installed heat pumps saved us the need for to import more than 200+ tankers on top of that. What's more, by meeting the AccelerateEU target for heat pump deployment by 2030, we could bring that number up to 369 LNG tankers' worth of gas. So, how can European policymakers help accelerate heat pump deployment? 💪 Deliver a comprehensive Electrification Action Plan, combined with a dedicated initiative and measures to accelerate clean heat deployment in Europe ⚡ Fix the electricity-to-gas price ratio to ensure the business case of purchasing a heat pump makes sense for households, for example by slashing taxation on electricity 🏛️ Promote subsidy schemes which are easily-accessed by households, and which are stably available in the longer term to display confidence in public support for heat pumps. 🤝 Implement already-agreed upon energy policies such as (but not limited to) the ETS2 and its related Social Climate Fund, to reaffirm Europe's direction of travel, and instil public trust in the green transition Last week, we published our report, A Strait Answer. This report showcases how Europe, by deploying solutions such as heat pumps, district heating systems and solar thermal collectors, can reduce our gas imports by 10,3% compared to 2025. This week, we will break that number down into the specific sectors we've studied, which are all key to ensuring the success of Europe's energy independence ambitions.

Yesterday, Clean Heat Europe published a new report, "A Strait Answer", in which we showcase how much less gas Europe could import, just by deploying more clean heat. By 2030, Europe could reduce its annual gas imports by an additional 10,3% compared to 2025, on top of the gas demand already replaced by our sector. These solutions are already available on the market. Yet, demand could grow much faster, if we establish clear market signals which favour clean heat over fossil fuel systems. Key actions for this include: ✅ Delivering a comprehensive Electrification Action Plan, combined with a dedicated initiative and measures to accelerate clean heat deployment in Europe. 🏛️ Ensuring that Member States fully implement EU energy legislation, including ETS2, without delay. 📋 Promoting coherent, visible, simple and stable national subsidy schemes for clean heat installations, with support for integration between clean heat and fossil-free energy solutions, and with hands-on support for applicants throughout the process. 💪 Establishing an ambitious post-2030 framework that accelerates clean heat deployment and provides clarity and visibility for investment into the transition. 🎯 Launching targeted energy taxation reform to slash the minimum taxation on electricity to encourage households and businesses to move away from fossils. Thank you to Kira Taylor and Ciarán Sunderland (and all your colleagues at Contexte!) for covering this. Heating and cooling is at the heart of Europe's energy independence ambitions, and a number of policy actions are underway to deliver this. We now look to all involved policy-makers to ensure that ambition levels match the scale of the challenge, and the importance of the sector. The work continues!

💡NEW REPORT: REPLACING EU FOSSIL GAS IMPORTS WITH HOMEGROWN CLEAN HEAT💡 Today, we are proud to unveil our new report, “A Strait Answer”, exploring the gas demand reduction offered by Europe’s currently-installed clean heat stock, as well as the potential additional demand reduction which could come from deploying clean heat by 2030. Key findings: 🔥 Clean heat deployment has the ability to reduce Europe’s annual demand for imported fossil gas by a total of 74,6 bcm by 2030. That additional gas displacement between 2026 and 2030 is the equivalent of 10,3% of Europe’s total 2025 gas imports. ♨️ Europe’s already-in-use clean heat stock currently replace the gas demand by 42,5 bcm of gas imports per year 🛢️ In 2025, Europe imported a total of 314 bcm of gas. While this is the sum of both tanker and pipeline imports, based on the average capacity of a gas tanker, this is the equivalent of circa 3008 tankers 🚢 The total annual demand reduction reachable by 2030 represents about 715 tankers’ worth of gas, with the additional gas demand reduction between 2026 and 2030 being the equivalent of almost 310 gas tanker loads of gas This report is a call for bold policy action: the EU Commission is gearing up to publish its long-awaited Electrification Action Plan, which has the ability to send strong market signals in favour of clean heat. That, combined with additional heat-specific policy measures can truly accelerate the deployment of solutions such as heat pumps, solar thermal, and district heating systems across Europe. Read the report on the link in the comments! European Heat Pump Association Euroheat & Power Solar Heat Europe European Climate Foundation

The cruelest euphemism in politics, without a doubt, is the description of events and debates as “timely.” This is me, melting in an otherwise-beautiful meeting room in central London. I’m learning from brilliant colleagues. I’ve just shared my perspective on how to rally a whole-of-society response to climate change-related disinformation. But the room is 35 degrees hot, and I feel like I’m about to collapse. This experience was just uncomfortable. For others, it will be fatal. Last year alone, the heat wave across Europe caused more than 16 000 fatalities. Solutions are ready for deployment. Heat pumps work. They heat and they cool. They save you money from the moment they are plugged in. But coordinated inauthentic information interference operations hamper demand for uptake, while also shrinking the Overton Window for policies that help you afford the solution. Right now, a a cluster of foreign authoritarians, domestic populists, oil and gas executives and big tech feudal lords all stand to benefit from preventing us from replacing the fossil fuels which brought us to this point. They want us to continue to import these fuels, at a premium, to the tune of thousands of tankers’ worth of gas every year. We should deny them. We can deny them. We can all choose energy independence, affordable heating and cooling, and we can choose to not exacerbate the heat waves that are already a seasonal staple. Soon, Clean Heat Europe will release a report on how much gas demand can be reduced by deploying solutions such as heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and district heating systems. Until then, stay tuned, and stay hydrated.

In the wake of yet another energy crisis, Europe is currently focused on achieving energy independence. To that end, clear market signals in favour of clean heat are needed. Clear, concrete policy action is absolutely vital to deploy these critical solutions, be they district heating and cooling systems, heat pumps, solar thermal or otherwise. News are emerging that the Commission is looking to fold the Heating & Cooling Strategy into the Electrification Action Plan. While it would be best to reconsider this course of action, and publish the Electrification Action Plan and Heating & Cooling Strategy as two highly complementary communications, it's absolutely vital that the policy measures originally placed in the Heating & Cooling Strategy are preserved in the merging process. The publication of this new, combined communication is currently slated for early June. This remains a key opportunity for the European Commission to propose strong policy measures to help deploy clean heat across all of Europe. We will continue to advocate for the most-ambitious solutions so that Europe can at long last unlock its energy independence, and never again have to face another crisis such as this one.

AccelerateEU signalled strong support for the clean heat transition. Now, however, the risk that the Heating & Cooling Strategy risks being folded into the Electrification Action Plan would be an unforced own goal. These policy packages are poised since long to be highly complementary, and merging them would be a disservice to both work streams. Replacing fossil fuel heating requires a mix of all available clean heat solutions. To deploy these across Europe, dedicated support is needed. To that end, we urge the European Commission to reconsider, and deliver comprehensive, long-term support for Europe's clean heat sector, and the households who stand to benefit the most from ridding themselves of fossil dependencies. Read our open letter here: https://lnkd.in/enHcvyJ9

When the European Commission published AccelerateEU, it showed that the powers they be *got it*. Yet, now we seem to be headed towards a completely unforced own goal. Together with almost two dozen signatories, Clean Heat Europe supported this open letter to EU Commission Secretary-General Ilze Juhansone. For over a year now, Europe's clean heat sector has eagerly anticipated the publication of two complementary documents from the European Commission: the Electrification Action Plan and the Heating & Cooling Strategy. The documents would cover different, though conjoined, elements of Europe's energy transition. Now, it seems like the H&C Strategy might end up not even seeing the light of day. Instead, it's possible that it gets scrapped, and parts of its content gets tacked onto the Electrification Action Plan. That would be a disservice to the quality and focus of both documents, and detrimental to Europe's energy independence efforts. Heating & cooling is half of Europe's energy consumption, and represents an even larger share of households' energy use. Households still also rely predominantly on fossil fuels to keep warm. It's a given that this sector, which can boast a number of electrified and non-electrified clean solutions, should receive more dedicated support than to be relegated to an annex of the Electrification Action Plan. The most jarring part of this development is that it is entirely arbitrary. There is no need to do this. It wouldn't make the policy landscape tidier, or easier to navigate. It would simply take two long-awaited deliverables, and stick them together, weakening the focus and efficacy of both. Check out the full letter here: https://lnkd.in/eMSQKvvr